Saturday, June 29, 2013

How To Keep Deer Out Of Gardens

Do you have an open back yard where your garden is easily accessible to animals like deer? Then you may have already been on the hunt for deer deterrents, or homemade remedies that will keep deer out of your garden. Or maybe hunting season is closed and/or you don't own a gun (just kidding!).

We don't want to see these in our garden!

Today we'll talk about a few remedies that you can use from household items, or things that are easily available at any grocery store, that will help to deter deer away from your garden that you work so hard to keep up. These methods may apply to you if you are worried about the chemicals use in some of the deer deterrent sprays that you can get from gardening supply stores. While the containers may say they are safe for plants and for vegetables if you use it in your garden, sometimes it just doesn't feel right growing your plants in an unnatural way.

So we know that my methods will not include any store bought deer deterrent spray. I am actually going to narrow down to just two methods. Both of these methods, in my opinion, work the best because they do not require application everyday or every couple days, and their chances of actually working for you are very great! So here are the two best methods I have chosen to keep deer away from a garden:

Sprinkling chili powder on your plants

Adding pepper or mint plants to your garden

A nice hot pepper plant in a home garden

A couple small mint plants can work wonders to keeping deer out

Sprinkling chili powder on your plants

It turns out deer don't like spicy flavorings, so sprinkling chili powder on your soil and on your plants tends to turn them away from your garden. The chili powder will not harm most plants and vegetables, and of course there are no harmful chemicals involved in it. It can even help keep other small pests and insects away from your garden as well.

Adding pepper or mint plants to your garden

Pepper and mint plants are one of the best deer repellent plants out there. Not only do they work great, but they will also go great with your home garden, are easy to care for, and you can of course use the peppers and mint once they are ready to be pulled! As I said before, deer don't like the scent or taste of spicy things, so the pepper and mint both naturally help to keep them away.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

What is Pak Choi?

Pak Choi is a green leafy vegetable, commonly grown in Asia and used in many Asian cuisines. It is also commonly called bok choi, or Chinese cabbage.

How To Grow Pak Choi

Pak Choi is fairly easy to grow, even for gardening beginners. They also have a relatively short harvest time, and you can start pulling leaves for food in as little as 30 days, and they are usually fully grown in about 45 days.
The Pak Choi plant does not respond well to high temperatures, so they should be planted in a shady area and watered often.

All you need to get started on your pak choi harvest, is seeds of course, a couple small potting containers, a good soil that will retain moisture, and a little of your personal time.

Here are the steps to growing your very own Chinese cabbage:

Plant the seeds in to their own small potting container. Keep the soil in the containers moist and in the sun, until the seedling start to sprout and reach a height of about 3 inches.

Once the seedling are sprouted, you can then transfer them to your soil plot, planting them about 8-12 inches apart from each other.

Make sure you keep them in an area that gets plenty of shade, and it may be a good idea to cover your plot with a protective netting, to prevent infestations.

Once the plants hit about 30 days, they are ready to started being used, and will be fully harvested by about 45 days.

To keep them fresh, you can pick off leaves as you plan to use them, leaving the pak choi in the ground so that it keeps on growing.

A nearly ready for harvest Pak Choi plant

Chinese cabbage makes for great use in stir-fry, Asian-themed salads, or anything else you want to make with a replacement for lettuce or cabbage.

Below you can find all of the products you need to grow a successful Pak Choi garden plot:

With just a small investment, you could be on your way to creating your own garden, and growing your own food! There's nothing like the taste of dinner in the evening coming fresh from the garden in your back yard earlier that day.

Stay tuned for more gardening tips and product reviews, and please share any comments or questions you have, and be sure to subscribe!